


Always Remember to Preheat Your Oven!

by vanillafluffy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Great British Bake Off RPF
Genre: Baking, Betty Crocker need not apply, Competition, Competition-Set Fic, Cooking, Crack, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Not Canon Compliant, Tongue-in-cheek, Wait--how do you spell 'croquembouche'?!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-07-04 09:09:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15838173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanillafluffy/pseuds/vanillafluffy
Summary: I love the smell of precious cinnamon rolls in the morning! Like I also love watching the Great British Bake-Off, although I don't claim to be a baker myself...it's fun to imagine that Icouldmaster choux and croissants and all those other delicacies. As far as I'm concerned, it would take a superhero to concoct most of those projects. Hmm....





	Always Remember to Preheat Your Oven!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [classics_lover](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=classics_lover), [Brumeier](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/gifts).



Tensions in the tent are running high. Natasha and Maria stroll from table to table, asking the finalists about their creations. Soon the judges, famed restaurateur Tony Stark and cupcake goddess Pepper Potts will select the winner of the Bake-Off.

So many have tried. So few remain.

The first to be eliminated was Clint, a full-time farmer and part-time baking enthusiast. Unfortunately for him, his anise-seed scones had the density of hockey pucks.

The following week, Jarvis’s inability to recreate Tony’s signature red-and-gold-velvet cake had him packing up his utencils.

The third week, the lowest scores were posted by the Maximoff twins (famous in ice-dancing pairs competition), but in the end, Pietro had gone home while his sister Wanda stayed.

Thor Odinson, manager of the IKEA in Queens, hadn’t been able to present a satisfactory Baked Alaska--his brother Loki, however, got top honors for that challenge.

High school chemistry teacher Bruce had a spectacular meltdown the following week, insisting _someone_ (evil eyeing Loki) had sabotaged his creme patisserie. (When footage proved him correct, Loki quietly departed.)

Steve was next to leave when his croquembouche came apart as Pepper tasted one of the puffs. For a quiet sign painter from Brooklyn, he’d gone much farther than anyone--including himself--had anticipated.

Only three talented bakers remain: Sam, whose date-nut fruitcake made even Tony appreciate fruitcake, Wanda, whose zabaglione Pepper has dubbed “magical”, and Bucky, who has placed first three times: for La Maitia (a sublime lemon cake), macarons with plum filling, and a hearty Irish soda bread that he modestly insists is an old family recipe. Interestingly, Sam and Bucky are both combat veteran: Sam is a crisis counselor now, Bucky is in private security, while Wanda and Pietro are Sokovian war refugees currently skating for Team USA.

“Tell me about your cheesecake,” Natasha says to Sam. 

“It’s got an orange filling, with a layer of marmalade over a ginger-snap crust,” he explains. “I love orange juice, so I made sure there’s plenty of orange zest in there.

Wanda is muttering to herself in Sokovian and doesn’t look up from what she’s doing. 

“She’s using fruit _in_ her cheesecake,” Maria confides to the camera. “That’s always tricky--too much liquid can prevent it from setting properly.” She moves to the final table. “Bucky, how’s your cheesecake coming along?”

He pulls a clean spoon from his supplies and runs it around the edge of the bowl he mixed the filling in. “You don’t have a nut allergy, do you?”

“I couldn’t work here if I did,” she responds, and tastes the offered sample. “Oh my--butter pecan?”

“That’s right, and the crust is shortbread with hazelnuts.”

“Delicious!”

Clearly, it’s going to be between Sam and Bucky. As Maria had predicted, Wanda’s cheesecake is more like a strawberry pudding with graham cracker crumbs mixed in.

Pepper adores butter pecan. Tony’s not a fan, but one bite of Sam’s Orange Delight makes him pucker up--and not in a good way. “How many oranges did they shred for that?” he says after washing the bitterness away with a a swig of milk. “I think someone got a bit carried away.”

So in the end, it’s Bucky who gets the trophy and prizes. “I’d like to dedicate this to all my fellow veterans,” he says from the podium. “We’ve seen some terrible things, but there’s still a lot of life ahead of us to celebrate. If I could do this, you can make your dreams come true. Good luck to you all!”

 

…


End file.
